Bourbon Street shooting victim speaks, through shot-up mouth

Bourbon Street shooting victim speaks, through shot-up mouth

Video image from YouTube posted by Channel 9 News in Perth, Australia -- Amy Matthews, 21, of Perth, Australia, was interviewed by Perth's Channel 9 News about her injuries sustained in the recent Bourbon Street shooting.Video image from YouTube posted by Channel 9 News in Perth, Australia -- Amy Matthews, 21, of Perth, Australia, was interviewed by Perth's Channel 9 News about her injuries sustained in the recent Bourbon Street shooting.Advocate staff file photo by JOHN McCUSKER -- New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu wants an unarmed civilian force to help patrol the French Quarter. Nine people were injured in an early morning shooting incident at Bourbon Street and Orleans Avenue Sunday, June 29, 2014.Advocate staff photo by JOHN McCUSKER -- 9 people were injured in an early morning shooting incident at Bourbon Street and Orleans Avenue Sunday, June 29, 2014.Video image from YouTube posted by Channel 9 News in Perth, Australia -- Amy Matthews, 21, of Perth, Australia, was interviewed by Perth's Channel 9 News about her injuries sustained in the recent Bourbon Street shooting.

Australian news organizations reported Wednesday morning that one of the victim’s in Sunday morning’s shooting spree on Bourbon Street is doing well, albeit without several teeth after being shot in the face.

She told Australian news organizations that she was on vacation with family, spending their third day in New Orleans after visiting New York City and Nashville on a trip celebrating her college graduation, when she took the bullet about 2:45 a.m. Sunday.

The shooting spree, for which police were still searching for suspects Wednesday, claimed 10 victims, including one who remained in critical condition, according to police.

“I have about 10 teeth left,” she told The West Australian. “It shattered the top of my palate in four places and ripped my tongue in several places.

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“Because the bullet was so hot, it just ripped through my teeth and burnt a lot of my gums. They had to remove a lot of dead gum.”

Matthews told the newspaper that she’s been told “they think one of the victims is going to die.”

A hospital official answering the phone Wednesday morning said Matthews had been discharged.

Matthews told news organizations that she was aided by a pair of Marines as she lay shot.

“One of the Marines took his shirt off and used it for my mouth,” she told the newspaper. “I was trying not to freak out too much and the Marines were trained in that so they were keeping my mind off those thoughts.

“They were making jokes and telling me how I was handling it better than most of their Marine friends would have. They definitely helped.”

She said she received 30 stitches in her tongue and a metal brace affixed to the roof of her mouth.

According to the newspaper, Matthews wrote her college thesis on gun use in the U.S.

She told the newspaper she’ll be getting dental implants.

Matthews also told Australian news organizations that Mayor Mitch Landrieu paid her a visit.